Spelling Help

[My4arrows]

DS (7) has a tough time with spelling.  I'm not quite sure what the problem is and am looking for some insight and suggestions.  He struggles with spelling over all and when he guesses on how to spell a word, typically its nowhere close to being correct.  And for words he should know (we were using AAS so he knows the rules), he tries to sound them out and then will often get the correct letters, but not the correct order.  This isn't always the case as at times he gets the words correct, but usually these are the more simple words.  I'm not sure how to help him.

[Ellie]

Spalding. :-)

[My4arrows]

Spalding. :-)

OK, why?  How it is different from AAS or other programs?  How would it help my DS with whatever is going on with him?  I've never seen or heard or Spalding before.

[Ellie]

OK, why?  How it is different from AAS or other programs?  How would it help my DS with whatever is going on with him?  I've never seen or heard or Spalding before.

 

Spalding is the mama of AAS, Logic of English, Spell to Write and Read, and others. Spalding doesn't teach rules; it teaches children to analyze each word.

 

The manual for Spalding is the Writing Road to Reading.

[WahM]

Another option to consider is it may just be age/a developmental thing for him that will click over time. So you could just continue with what you're already doing if you both seem to like it. He is still very young.

[lorisuewho]

I would give AAS a little more time.  I think the more years they have read, the more they have a sense of what "looks right."  This isn't to dismiss understanding how words and spelling and rules work.  AAS should give your child a good base in that.  If you press on and things do not seem to improve, then maybe you need a different approach like Apples and Pears. 

[FO4UR]

He might need more work on putting words into his visual memory.  I can analyze many misspellings.  Why is it "down" and not "doun?"  There is no explanation.  It just is.  Good spellers are great at taking a visual memory of each and every word.  Rules help, but really only after gaining a hefty stock of words into the visual memory as a frame of reference.

 

fwiw, I have worked SWR for years.  I still came out with a child who spelled "shirt" as "shrit" or "hsirt" or "hsrit" and it was all "shirt" to him.  tbh, he is 12 and will still invert phonograms when he's very tired.  He understands the phonograms & rules perfectly well.  He needs explicit and focused instruction on visualization.  

 

 

This is why I have worked to create something new out of an old speller.  I use the same Ayer's List.  The format and pace and presentation is very different....very much tailored to those, like my ds, who need help planting words into the visual memory.

 

 

You can keep going with AAS if it otherwise fits, just adding an element of visualizing the words.  

 

 

[Farrar]

I would also give it more time. Seven is young. If you switch, I would consider that AAS isn't so different from Spalding (both are rules, analyzing the word, sounds to spelling approaches) that if the issue is the basic method then you may not see much of a different outcome. Of course, sometimes the layout or the phrasing or the specific ways a program does something is enough to make the method click with a kid... or just a year of maturity and a change of pace.

[MerryAtHope]

DS (7) has a tough time with spelling.  I'm not quite sure what the problem is and am looking for some insight and suggestions.  He struggles with spelling over all and when he guesses on how to spell a word, typically its nowhere close to being correct.  And for words he should know (we were using AAS so he knows the rules), he tries to sound them out and then will often get the correct letters, but not the correct order.  This isn't always the case as at times he gets the words correct, but usually these are the more simple words.  I'm not sure how to help him.

 

When he gets letters in the wrong order, have him then read exactly what he wrote. See if he can "hear" his mistake when he reads it back. If he says the word he meant instead of reading what he wrote, read it for him. For example, if the word is blink, and he wrote bilnk, say, "I would read this as bilnk. We want blink. Do you know how to change it to make it say blink?" 

 

This is a lot easier to do with the letter tiles because you can move letters around easily, but he could do it on the white board in marker or in writing on paper too.

 

If he's changing up phonograms, like writing "raed" for "read," ask him to underline the phonograms and find each one on the tile board. Or say, "I don't remember a phonogram ae, do you?"  (ae does happen in some advanced words, but it's not something he has learned for the long E sound.) "What do you think we should use instead?"

 

Are his mistakes mainly during your spelling lessons, or in outside writing? When students are writing outside of spelling time, they have many more things to focus on–content, creativity, organization, punctuation, spelling, grammar, capitalization, what kind of audience they are addressing–it’s a lot to think about at once. In fact, even adult writers need to take time to rewrite and edit their work (and sometimes there are still mistakes!). Our students definitely need a separate editing time if the piece is going to be polished at all. Also, remember that since even professional writers need editors, our students will too. I really didn't work on revising when my kids were 7--but you can make notes of words that you've already studied that he misspells, and review them in your spelling time. As he gets older, you can use dictations and the writing station activities (these start in AAS 3) to help him learn how to edit his work. This article on helping kids achieve automaticity in spelling has more ideas. But at 7, yeah, I wouldn't expect much yet! Just walk him through how to correct things, how to say exactly what he wrote so he can hear the difference when letters are switched or when he uses a letter that won't work, etc...